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An elder is a father to his community. He is able to treat children who are not biologically his children with the same unselfish care he learned to give to his own. We will study the ELDER STAGE in chapter twelve.
After his children have become men and women, a truly grand-father becomes a guide. He helps those who are climbing for the first time. He rescues those who didn’t bring maps, forgot their supplies, or even got lost. Elders give life to the “familyless”–the widows, orphans and strangers. They help their community to mature and reach its identity.
Trust is built by elders because they live transparent lives. They no longer hide what they feel so they can be “cool.” They are real in ways they haven’t been since they were children. They no longer need to protect themselves because they have learned to suffer well. Elders don’t withdraw when things go wrong and people fail to live from their hearts. Through authentic involvement, elders resynchronize their community from its broken relationships, failures and failed trust. Elders may not do the work but they help others get their timing right. “This is not the time for that,” they say and then again, “this is the time to do something else.”
Many people could use an elder or a grandfather. In our society we expect older people to buy a Winnebago and drive into the sunset. We, therefore, have few elders, few spare fathers, few guides, and few people helping those in need. There is a great lack of elders in our churches and communities. We need men who have been to the mountain.
Old mountaineers die when they have no one to guide. Each elder must have a community of his own, a place where he is recognized and trusted as an elder. Elders must be given a proper place in the community structure for they would not use force to take it.
“I know just what you need,” must echo again in the canyons.
Every elder prepares to face his greatest transformation–a plunge into Iceberg Lake. When elders die, it is a time of great blessing. This is the final decontamination process from all that may have gone wrong on his journey. Everything about him that received and gave life emerges beyond Iceberg Lake. Anything about him that gave death, stays in the lake forever.
The goal for elders is to help their community grow up. Elders raise communities the way parents raise children. Under elders, communities reach their full maturity.
NEEDS
- A community to call his own
- Recognition by his community
- A proper place in the community structure
- To be valued and defended by his community
TASKS
- Hospitality
- Giving life to family less
- Raising and maturing his community
- Building and maintaining the community identity
- Acting like himself in the midst of difficulty
- Enjoying what God put in each and every one
- Living Transparently and spontaneously
- Building and rebuilding trust
